What was your health journey prior to Veri?
About 7 years ago when I moved to London. Shortly after, I stopped smoking; for context, I had picked up smoking the year before due to a stressful work situation, but thankfully managed to quit after about 14 months.
Before and whilst I was smoking, I was about 170 lbs (78 kgs) and 6 feet (183 cm), so relatively lean. Once I quit smoking, I started putting on weight and got to about 200 lbs (90 kgs). Throughout the years I tried different diets, gym workouts but just ended up with a fluctuating weight, between 180 and 200 lbs (82-90 kgs).
I think the main reason it didn’t work was that I have a habit of overeating when stressed and also it’s easier to lose weight during summer, but once fall starts I start gaining weight again.
The situation got a bit worse during the lockdowns as I peaked at 220 lbs (100 kgs). I think I honestly didn’t notice it as I stopped weighing myself in the last 2 years. I only started noticing it when I picked up basketball last year and noticed that my knees and ankles were constantly sore after every game, even though I was playing at a recreational level, so not super intense.
Even though I was burning a lot of calories with basketball I also subconsciously increased my food intake as I was hungry more often and even after a few months of playing basketball, I still didn’t lose more than 10 lbs (4.5 kg).
I stumbled upon Veri by chance, when a friend that was working for a health tech start-up mentioned it, so I was like why not?
I was like I’ve tried a few diets and I’m actually doing a good amount of exercise, but it always felt like an uphill battle to achieve consistency. I always associated CGMs with diabetes, so it was quite interesting that I could use a CGM for personalized health info.
What did you learn early on?
It was a bit intimidating inserting the sensor at first (not a fan of needles), but once I saw the video of how easy it is to put it in, I didn’t even think twice. Also, the fact that it’s just a rubber thread and I could continue to play basketball, go to the gym and the pool is a great bonus.
I was super excited to get my first glucose reading and I remember thinking “man, this is the future.”
One of the first things I did was completely cut out breakfast cereal. Even with “only 3 grams of sugar” cereal, my blood sugar went up like crazy. Now I completely switched to keto granola and greek yogurt. After being a big fan of oat milk for years, I’ve also cut it out entirely as it also negatively impacted my blood sugar.
What have you learned using Veri?
I’ve used Veri intermittently for the last 8 months now and my biggest takeaway has been “big blood sugar drop = big cravings for sweets”. As I’ve experimented with different foods and most importantly, different order of eating, I managed to significantly reduce cravings, which for me has been absolutely key to losing weight sustainably.
The best part about using Veri and learning how to eat better based on my glucose response is that I haven’t made any big changes in my diet - I still eat 90% of the things that I used to eat, just in a different order.
For example, when I have a burger at a restaurant, I’ll ask for it without the buns and with some salad. I’ll eat the salad first and then the burger itself. The difference for my blood sugar is 90 to 150 mg/dl (5 to 8.4 mmol/l) if I eat it normally (with the buns and salad after) or 90 to 110 mg/dl (5 to 6 mmol/l) if I eat the salad first and then the burger. From a glucose level perspective, my baseline went from around 100 to 90 mg/dl (5.6 - 5 mmol/l).
Also, on a psychological level, just being able to continuously see which foods keep my blood sugar stable is great and helps to keep my discipline.
Describe your experience with Veri
Results-wise, I’ve lost 30 lbs (14 kgs) from May 2022 to November 2022 and most importantly managed to keep my weight through winter as that’s when I usually add the lost weight back on.
It feels pretty incredible honestly - the first thing I noticed was getting a lot less fatigued playing basketball. Plus not feeling sore in my knees and ankles was great as it meant I could play multiple times a week if I felt like it.
Self-image might be a funny one, as I was body positive before so I didn’t approach this from a place of being uncomfortable with myself. Having a bigger frame means it’s not as noticeable when I gain weight (which was part of the problem initially), so I didn’t struggle with that. But having more energy and waking in the morning feeling leaner and more sporty is a phenomenal feeling.
I think that fundamentally my biggest gain from Veri is that I found a way to lose weight and get fitter that doesn’t feel like pushing water uphill, a solution based on my own body’s response to food. I’ve largely kept eating the same things that I ate before, but with significantly fewer cravings. And psychologically, I didn’t feel like I had to fight my own body or come at it from a place of self-loathing and punish myself with a diet, but actually connect with myself and understand what works best for me, with long-term sustainable results.
